Transition

Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

June 25 Green Energy News

Opinion:

“Where The US Got Its Oil in 2013” As events in Iraq continue to unfold, many people have asked about just how much oil the US imports from Iraq. The author has tabulated a list of the top 10 sources of crude oil imports for the US for 2013. [Energy Trends Insider]

Science and Technology:

Several developments in the power sector, including growth in smart meters and variable renewable generation, have created an environment conducive to virtual power plants, which Navigant Research expects to be worth $5.3 billion in 2023. [Virtual-Strategy Magazine]

World:

Clive Palmer, member of Parliament from Melbourne, will demand that households benefit from a move to repeal the carbon tax, while the government’s plans to scrap the renewable energy target and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation have been thrown into doubt. [Brisbane Times]

Alten LLC announced it had successfully bid on the capacity allocation tender organized by Russian energy regulator Sovet Rynka to build a 51 MW wind park scheduled to launch in 2015. It will be Russia’s first large-scale wind plant. [Prague Post]

Total wind energy supplied to the states of NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria reached a record 2598 MW at 10:30 pm according to National Electricity Market data analysed by Pitt & Sherry. That supply met 14.9% of total demand. [Sydney Morning Herald]

The number of large-scale solar parks in Wales is set to double, with rural west Wales increasingly being targeted. Eighteen schemes greater than 5 MW are already in operation, with 34 projects in planning or being built, according to website Solarbuzz. [BBC News]

State governments in Australia provided $17.6 billion in subsidies to the minerals and fossil fuel industries over a six-year period, according to a report by The Australia Institute. This figure does not include significant federal government support and subsidies. [Business Green]

Vega Biofuels has entered into an agreement with Austrian based, ECEM Salzburg Energy and Environment Consulting GmbH to sell 50,000 tons of Bio-Coal each year for the next five years. The five year deal will generate approximately $57 million in revenue to Vega. [Baystreet.ca]

The Czech Republic is the world’s fifth biggest power exporter, but fears in Prague are that the rise of renewable energy in the coming decades will cause a fall in prices. They suggest output reductions from coal and postponement of new nuclear power stations. [Radio Prague]

US:

The state of New Hampshire lags behind many New England states in energy-efficiency measures, investment in grid modernization, zero-emission vehicles and in other areas, but a proposed 10-year state energy plan hopes to address many of these issues. [Seacoastonline.com]

Some leaders in the GOP and the industry have backed away from the initial relentless criticism of the EPA’s proposed carbon rule. Michigan and New Jersey provide two among other examples. [Great Lakes Echo]

The vast majority of Vermonters want to use less fossil fuel for their energy needs, but the cost to reduce one’s carbon footprint is a perceived challenge, according to a survey the Energy Action Network released last week. [vtdigger.org]

The owner of a planned trash-burning power plant in Delaware faces millions of dollars in fines and has been ordered to halt construction because company officials didn’t buy enough emissions credits to offset air pollution the facility is expected to emit. [Baltimore Sun]

General Motors is increasing its renewable energy use with 3 acres of new solar arrays at two Michigan facilities. The two will feature 150-kilowatt ground-mount solar arrays expected to generate a combined 400,000 kWh annually. [Greenfield Daily Reporter]

The Northeast Biodiesel Diesel plant in Greenfield, Massachusetts has gotten a major boost toward becoming a reality with a $540,000 grant from the state Department of Energy Resources. The $3.5 million plant has been a work in progress for 10 years. [GazetteNET]

A Spending Bill under debate in Congress would cut over $100 million from renewable energy, grant extra funds for dumping nuclear waste and fossil fuel research, exempt ‘mountain top removal’ coal from regulation, and limit EPA enforcing clean water laws. [The Ecologist]